Australia to step up heart checks of its Olympians
Source: Agencies |
May 4, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Australian Olympic Committee has instituted enhanced heart checks of its London-bound team, with this week's death of Norwegian swimmer Alexander Dale Oen and two recent on-field collapses in European football highlighting a need for more stringent medical testing.
Dr. Peter Baquie, the Australian Olympic team's medical director, said more than two-thirds of the expected 400-strong squad had already undergone extensive cardiovascular screening, including electrocardiograms (EKGs), less than three months out from the games.
Baquie said similar family history checks and other routine exams were done ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games, but EKGs were not conducted at that time.
"It's been an evolution over the past two or three years, and these recent cases of deaths and collapses have highlighted the need for this kind of testing in athletes who push themselves so hard in their sports," Baquie said yesterday. "Athletes who train regularly have hearts bigger than the average person, even have different-shaped hearts, so the challenge is for us to determine what a 'normal' athlete's heart looks like."
The 26-year-old Dale Oen, one of Norway's biggest hopes for a gold medal in London after winning the 100-meter breaststroke at last year's world championships, died late on Monday during a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was found collapsed on a bathroom floor of a suspected cardiac arrest, although the exact cause has not been established.
The Japanese swimming federation is also reconsidering plans to conduct altitude training following the death of Dale Oen.
Dr. Peter Baquie, the Australian Olympic team's medical director, said more than two-thirds of the expected 400-strong squad had already undergone extensive cardiovascular screening, including electrocardiograms (EKGs), less than three months out from the games.
Baquie said similar family history checks and other routine exams were done ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games, but EKGs were not conducted at that time.
"It's been an evolution over the past two or three years, and these recent cases of deaths and collapses have highlighted the need for this kind of testing in athletes who push themselves so hard in their sports," Baquie said yesterday. "Athletes who train regularly have hearts bigger than the average person, even have different-shaped hearts, so the challenge is for us to determine what a 'normal' athlete's heart looks like."
The 26-year-old Dale Oen, one of Norway's biggest hopes for a gold medal in London after winning the 100-meter breaststroke at last year's world championships, died late on Monday during a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was found collapsed on a bathroom floor of a suspected cardiac arrest, although the exact cause has not been established.
The Japanese swimming federation is also reconsidering plans to conduct altitude training following the death of Dale Oen.
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